The Twig Of Roses
by Ace7321
Summary: Someone left this mysterious roses at Aerith's church but Cloud had no clue who is it! A Oneshot for Cloti.


_A.N : Another fic I produce for my favourite couple, CloTi. The end kinda messed up though so I apologises for it first. R&R!_

_Disclaimers : I do not own anything related to Final Fantasy. But last night, I dreamt that I do. Just a dream..._

**The Twigs Of Roses**

"There they are again…"

Cloud's eyes lock on to the only colour contrasting the scene, the dark deep crimson twig of roses in amidst the bright yellow flowers by Aerith. It's been like a few weeks by now. Every week in a day or two, whenever Cloud visits the church, there will be a twig of roses from a mysterious giver. It's been repeating since 5 months ago. Although there were times when Cloud tried to track the giver down by hiding behind benches (he even considering hiding inside the Lifestream pond), the giver never did appear, as if the giver can sense or tell when will Cloud visits the church.

He picks it up and examines the twig; only to find out they were fresh bouquet in around a day or so just like they always did when Cloud founds them. Feeling a little sorry for the roses and to the one who left the roses, he takes them to his 'secret garden' beneath the church. He found it a few weeks ago, the basement under the church with a little sunlight. And he plants them there. By now, his secret garden is almost like Aerith's yellow garden upstairs, except his garden is in red. He stands there for a while and admires HIS garden. Cloud smirks; he never knew he is such a green thumb after all. And these days, he prefers to admire the red than to yellow.

Cloud sighs and goes back up.

"Aerith…" He calls out slowly, a scream isn't necessary to call her out.

After a short while, Cloud smiles when he could hear his reply on his mind, _Yes?_

Cloud walks to the pond and kneels before it, seeing his own reflection, "Who exactly left those roses to you?" He speaks with his mind, and he could hear a slight giggle from a woman.

_You know who is it, and I think you knew that person far better than I do._

"Who?" This time, he uses his voice.

_I will leave you to look out for it._

Cloud rubs the back of his head and sighs, "As if you didn't tell me anything…"

_By the way, your garden is beautiful, Cloud. It's nice that underneath the church there is a rose garden that somewhat brings a… romantic feeling. It's not too dark, nor too bright down there._

_Zack likes it too._

"Thanks."

On Tifa's side, she is busy with her own schedule.

First, the bar. Then, the house. But, she never fails to find herself some time with Marlene and Denzel.

Marlene and Tifa are cleaning the dishes that afternoon after lunch, while Denzel is out to clean the table as he usually does. At times, Marlene will splash herself with the soap and tap water just to earn Tifa's smile and a little lecture. "Tifa, are you out again tomorrow?" Marlene suddenly brings up, but Tifa maintains her composure and replies with a smile, "Yes, dear. But as usual, I will be back soon."

The answer doesn't really satisfy Marlene, "Where are you going exactly each time?" and again the same retort, "Somewhere safe."

Denzel did attempt to dig the answers out from Tifa too, but the answers are always the same, _"Somewhere safe."_

When night falls, Cloud comes home, much to their surprise. Denzel and Marlene are the first ones to pounce and hug Cloud (actually, Marlene is the one charging all the time), before they release him to Tifa. They share a warm family hug (not the amorous one), "You are home today, I expect you to be back next month, you know?"

"Nope, I kinda go frenzy today for the deliveries that are due this week. The other deliveries I had left are due to next month, so, it's okay to take a break today." Cloud explains.

"Don't push yourself, okay?"

"You too, Teef."

And they go back to their own business. Cloud joins Marlene and Denzel at the TV and Tifa does the dishes from the bar. The first few minutes are fun with Cloud home for Marlene and Denzel, and secretly, Tifa too. "Cloud..?" Denzel suddenly calls out. "Hmm?"

"Sometimes when you are out there in your work, do you happen to bumps into Tifa?"

Cloud raises one eyebrow, "No… why?"

"Now that you mention it… Yeah, Cloud… These days, Tifa always went out in a day or two every week. She never did tell us where she is going though." Marlene then joins in.

"And she dresses concealing herself heavily like; she didn't want to be known who she is. I am worry, Cloud…"

Cloud clears his throat a little, before assuring them, "I am sure she is doing just fine. Nothing bad will happen to her, okay?"

The next morning, only Cloud and Tifa is on the table with their breakfast. It is school holiday so Tifa allows Marlene and Denzel to stay up late, not to mention Cloud is here too.

"Hey, Cloud, will you visit Aerith today?"

He understands the meaning of visiting Aerith, practically, it means visiting the church, "I don't think I will be today and next week. I need to rush my deliveries."

Tifa then resumes eating, "I see."

Not long after they finished, it's time when Marlene comes running down dragging Denzel along, only to find breakfast is finished for the adults. Tifa smiles and goes back into the kitchen to prepare theirs.

While waiting Cloud goes over to the kids, "Will you two do me a favour?"

"What?"

"Call me whenever Tifa is going out and describe me what she wear…" He whispers when Tifa doesn't notice.

"You are going to track her down?" Marlene sounds excited.

"I think I know where she's going… do me this favour and I'll get you something from Junon."

"It's a deal."

After saying his goodbyes, Cloud speeds away in his Fenrir to work. As planned, he doesn't go too far from the house. It isn't until midday, after getting the kids' lunch, Tifa goes out again. She bade both Denzel and Marlene goodbye, "I will be back soon, okay? I'm just out for some matters."

After steping out from the house, Marlene immediately jumps to the phone and contacts Cloud, "Cloud, Tifa had just left the house! Uh…Um…Lesse, she's wearing a blue hoodie jacket and a pair of long jeans!"

"Alright, thanks, Marlene. I'm on my way then." Cloud flips the phone off and makes a 180° drift turn with Fenrir. He rushes full speed to the house but begins to slow down when he sees a mysterious slender figure dressing as described by Marlene. Cloud assumes that is Tifa, and she is hooded with her jacket. He carefully follows her into the street but accidentally makes a screeching noise when he brakes at some point. 'Damn the stupid brake!' He shouts in his mind, but luckily, Tifa doesn't see him when she turns around. Cloud is just in the nick out time to hide in an alley.

He continues following her, sneaking here and there and finally, his jaw drops in awe when he reaches Tifa's final destination.

Aerith's church at Sector 5.

'What is she doing here?'

He follows her inside and crept behind the rabbles. Tifa unhoods herself first, before bending down to place her 'gift' at the flower bed.

A twig of roses.

'So… Tifa is the mysterious giver all along, huh?"

Cloud doesn't move an inch and continues to look at her behaviour. Tifa seems calm; she doesn't say a word or doing anything. She only stares at the Lifestream pond and at points; she will dip her fingers into the clear water. After some time, she finally stands back up and smiles, "It's always nice talking to you, Aerith. Thank you."

She hoods herself back before leaving, "I'll see you again sometime."

When her figure disappears through the double door, Cloud comes out from his hiding place.

"Aerith, I need some explaination here." Cloud mutters.

_What about?_

"What is Tifa doing her?"

_She's here to talk her problems to me. We are best friends, aren't we?_

"About?"

_You really want to know, Cloud?_

Cloud nods, there is a short silence before Aerith's voice begins to echo in his ears again.

_About you._

Cloud withdraws a bit, "Me?"

_Yes, Cloud. Her problem is **you**. _

_Cloud, these days whenever she came, the only thing she would talk about is you. And there are times, she cried._

'Cry... because of me?'

The worst dream is coming to life for Cloud. The thing he never want to do in his life is to hurt Tifa, to make her sad. But now, she cries... and it's all because of **him**.

_She says she misses you. Not the Cloud now, but the very young Cloud. The Cloud that will do anything to impress her. But she can't do anything as she is afraid of losing you. And she even thought that you loved me all along._

'I did love you, but not the love I had for her until now. You and Tifa is different.'

_I know. I did tell her once. And she tells me that she loves you._

_I told her to wait for you. Wait for you to return to her._

That does it, the entire idea comes running to Cloud now. He runs out and mounts shouldn't be far, his eyes desperately searching for her. Lady Luck is at his side, he found her eventually. He drifts and stops beside her, catching her off guard, "Cloud?" Before she can say anything, Cloud drags her to his bike and speeds back to the church. There, Cloud lets go of her. Both of them stand speechless at first but then broke the silence, "Tifa..." He calls out formally instead of a 'Teef'.

"I am sorry." He blurts. Tifa looks a bit confused, "For what?"

"I made you cry... and I made you wait." He admits shyly. Tifa freezes without any words, shocked and surprised.

Cloud then holds her hands and lead her to his garden and Tifa's jaw drops in awe. "This is what I work out all this time with your roses."

"Cloud..."

"I love you." He says suddenly, although he wants to elaborate more than that but for him, action says anything louder than words. He goes over her and embraces her, burying his head into her neck.

Initially, she couldn't react at his actions but soon Tifa returns his hug and her eyes begins to water, "Thank you, Cloud, for making this waiting stop." She pulls Cloud back up and admits it right in front of his face, "I love you."

With that his lips slowly approaches her unconciously and closes the gap between them. It isn't a hard kiss nor a soft one, it is just right. They don't care and don't even know how long the kiss lasts but they pull away reluctantly soon.

"You never did tell me about this garden here..." Tifa chuckles in his neck.

"Mm... Maybe because my instinct tells me that you are the giver, or maybe it's fate. But, who cares?"

"I like your garden."

"**Our garden**." Cloud corrects her and once again they tighten the embrace.

Simultaneuosly both mind whispers, 'Thank you, Aerith.'

Later, they sit together in the middle of the bed of roses, sharing at least some time together in Cloud's garden, their garden.

"I think I must come to tend here sometimes, huh?" Tifa playfully comments.

"Yeah, it's kinda like yours now."

Suddenly, Cloud slaps his forehead and utters something. He looks worried of all sudden. "What's wrong?"

"Can we still reach Junon and make it back home before dawn?" Cloud asks.

"Umm... I don't think so... Why?"

Cloud sighs in frustration, "I forgot my deal with Marlene and Denzel."


End file.
